Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
- Starring:
- Ralph Richardson, Meriel Forbes, (more)
- Director(s):
- Richard Attenborough
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- G
- Category:
- Foreign, Music & Performing Arts
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Oh! What a Lovely War is an every-man-for-himself adaptation of Charles Chilton's 1963 play, as staged in London by Joan Littlewood. The tragedy of World War I is redefined in bawdy music-hall terms, beginning with a verbal free-for-all involving the Crowned Heads of Europe. The war is presented as the "new attraction" at the Brighton Amusement Pier, complete with syrupy cheer-up songs, shooting galleries, free prizes and a scoreboard toting up the dead. Throughout the proceedings, the camera concentrates on a middle-class family, whose five sons end up as cannon fodder. The final image is a veddy proper British picnic on a graveyard. Of the many fleeting satiric images parading past the camera, one of the most indelible is the sight of several generals playing leapfrog as the world all around them goes to hell in a handbasket. The awesome all-star cast includes Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Maggie Smith, John Gielgud, Michael Redgrave, Jack Hawkins, John Mills, Susannah York, Dirk Bogarde and Phyllis Calvert. We haven't seen this many Englishmen in one place since the last Wimbledon match. The whole affair was supervised by Richard Attenborough, making his directorial debut (a question: why was he up to the challenge of this musical extravaganza, yet seemed helpless in the face of 1985's A Chorus Line?). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 144 mins
Complete Cast:
- Ralph Richardson - Sir Edward Grey
- Wensley Pithey - Archduke Franz Ferdinand
- Ian Holm - President Poincare
- Kenneth More - Kaiser Wilhelm II
- Joe Melia - Photographer
- Kim Smith - Dickie Smith
- Paul Shelley - Jack Smith
- John Rae - Grandpa Smith
- Colin Farrell - Harry Smith
- Angela Thorne - Betty Smith
- Jean-Pierre Cassel - French Colonel
- David Lodge - Recruiting Sergiant
- Laurence Olivier - Field Marshal Sir John French
- Juliet Mills - First Nurse At Station
- Susannah York - Eleanor
- Cecil Parker - Sir John
- Isabel Dean - Sir John French's Lady
- Natasha Parry - Sir Wm. Robertson's Lady
- Thorley Walters - Staff Officer
- Vanessa Redgrave - Sylvia Pankhurst
- Harry Locke - Third Heckler
- Vincent Ball - Australian Singer
- Dorothy Reynolds - Second Heckler
- Meriel Forbes - Lady Grey
- Ruth Kettlewell - Duchess Sophie
- John Gielgud - Count Berchtold
- Paul Daneman - Nicholas II
- Jack Hawkins - Emperor Franz Josef
- Mary Wimbush - Mary Smith
- Wendy Allnutt - Flo Smith
- Corin Redgrave - Bertie Smith
- Maurice Roeves - George Smith
- John Mills - Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig
- Maggie Smith - Music Hall Star
- Michael Redgrave - General Sir Henry Wilson
- Peter Gilmore - Private Burgess
- Nanette Newman - Second Nurse At Station
- Dirk Bogarde - Stephen
- Robert Flemyng - Staff Officer
- Guy Middleton - Gen. Sir. Wm. Robertson
- Norman Shelley - Staff Officer
- Phyllis Calvert - Lady Haig
- Clifford Mollison - First Heckler
- Michael Bates - Drunken Corporal
- Gerald Sim - Clergyman
- Director(s):
- Richard Attenborough
- Writer(s):
- Len Deighton
- Producer(s):
- Brian Duffy, Len Deighton, Brian Duffy
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- G(Questionable for Children)
- Categories:
- Foreign, Music & Performing Arts
- Closed Captioning:
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- Subtitles:
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- 1969 - Oh! What a Lovely War - British Academy of Film and Television Arts - Best Supporting Actor
- 1969 - Oh! What a Lovely War - British Academy of Film and Television Arts - United Nations Award
- 1969 - Oh! What a Lovely War - British Academy of Film and Television Arts - Best Art Direction
- 1969 - Oh! What a Lovely War - British Academy of Film and Television Arts - Best Cinematography
- 1969 - Oh! What a Lovely War - British Academy of Film and Television Arts - Best Costume Design
- 1969 - Oh! What a Lovely War - Golden Globe - Best Foreign Film - English Language
- 1969 - Oh! What a Lovely War - Hollywood Foreign Press Association - Best Foreign Film - English Language
